If recent history has taught ticket brokers anything, it is that the Super Bowl ticket market does not always do what is expected. Strong fan bases may fall. The weather can hurt sales. Supply chain cuts can push prices into a stratosphere that few thought possible.
The Super Bowl XLIX fits that last description, with the inclination between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks being the hottest ticket in the game’s history. This particular Super Bowl was fueled by an excess of pre-sales that underestimated a strong market as the game approached, leaving brokers struggling to fill orders as prices soared. The end result was a surprising entry price of over $ 8,700 for the cheapest seat on the day of the game. It was a record that was expected for a long time. Then a pandemic season came and created a challenge that no one could have foreseen.
Well, not until a few weeks ago, anyway. Since the Super Bowl LV was expected to be a limited capacity event, all it took to send prices to the moon was the right set of circumstances. What the brokers achieved was a shame of wealth.
A site capacity for 22,000 pandemic sites.
A massive donation of NFL tickets to 7,500 vaccinated health workers – about 34% of the total game day participants.
A “home” game for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
A strong crowd of travelers from Kansas City Chiefs.
And, not to forget, one of the greatest quarterback fights in Super Bowl history, pitting Tom Brady of the Buccaneers against Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs on February 7.
What has resulted is brokers tracking the highest ticket prices they’ve seen so far from an event. According to TickPick on the secondary ticket market, Super Bowl LV is reaching two records, with the highest average ticket sales prices ($ 9,439 on Tuesday morning) and the highest entry prices ($ 8,003 on Tuesday morning), in the broker’s registered data. Another online market, TicketIQ, set the starting price at just over $ 8,600 on Tuesday.
Surprisingly, these prices did drop as availability started to increase with other tickets becoming available in the secondary market. TicketIQ data indicates that online availability is just over 1,500 tickets on Tuesday. A brokerage source also revealed the distribution of players and coaches for the game – two complementary tickets for each player on Chiefs and Buccaneers, with each granted the right to purchase four extra tickets at prices reaching $ 3,650 per seat at best bottom bowl availabilities. Each technician-level employee and “director” for the teams is also receiving two complementary chairs with the right to purchase two extras each.
The total distribution of tickets for the two teams can reach more than 1,000 seats. This means that between the two teams and the league’s donation to healthcare professionals, there will be 13,500 tickets to be divided between sponsors, fan offers and anything else the league will retain for other franchise owners, teams or executives who will receive a share from the stubs.
This is not much. And as the game approaches, brokers expect the stock to tighten.
“If the drop in the past few days lasts a little longer, I think there will come a point where there will be no more ‘flow’ of the usual places,” a mid-level broker told Yahoo Sports. “At some point, this stock will hit a wall and be just what it is. There will be no normal ways to get out and try to collect more ticket blocks. And that’s when I think it will get too high. Later next week [game week] it will be one of the most interesting things to watch in a long time. “
With plenty of time to watch the market unfold, TickPick provided its most interesting snapshot of ticket statistics. Between them:
For now, it seems that the domestic Florida crowd is coming true for Tampa Bay.
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